Antonio Carluccio's Travelling Life

A lot. I used to go to India every year for consultancy work for the Taj Hotels and Park Hotels groups, but now I travel to Dubai, Turkey and Dublin where I have restaurants. I often go to South Africa for food and wine festivals - I’m going to Cape Town later this year - and I visit Australia a lot. Australia’s Italian community knows me well for doing ‘no-nonsense’ Italian food as it used to be.

Last year I took a barge cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, along canals and rivers. The beauty of the journey was incomparable. We travelled along the Rhine and the Danube and saw Europe from a point of view I’d never experienced before.

What do you need for a perfect holiday?

The right person - once you have that you can be anywhere. For many years I used to go to the island of Sérifos in the Cyclades, Greece, where I could bathe naked and we’d dip tomatoes in the salty sea water, which was so clear and clean, and eat them. There were fisherman there but no fish to catch, which was funny. To get to the beach we went through a gorge where you could pick wild figs and grapes. It was wonderful. Holidays there felt so perfect then, before the island got popular.

Your earliest memory of travelling?

My father was a station master at the railway where we lived in Piedmont, so we were able to travel for free all over Italy in First Class. We’d visit relatives in the south in Napoli, Salerno and Avellino, where my granny had a place over a lot of land. I loved helping out there, getting my hands dirty in the earth. Then, once I started working for Olivetti [an Italian manufacturer], I travelled around the country in my little Fiat 500.

What do you like to do on holiday?

Whittle sticks. I walk around gathering sticks in the countryside. It gives me peace of mind. After that, I like to visit the local markets.

Favourite places to visit?

The mountains in Umbria, and Sardinia, for the beautiful sea along the Emerald Coast. I stayed inland at a hotel called Su Gologone, where you can learn a lot about the local cuisine and the food there is fantastic. I also love the island of La Maddalena (pictured below) in northern Sardinia, where I spent time as a navy cadet in my youth.

Where was your best holiday?

One of the best was on Silhouette Island in the Seychelles, which is reached by helicopter. There was a row of bungalows, incredible beaches and nothing else. One day I was walking in the gardens and spoke to a woman I saw picking leaves from an acacia tree. She told me her husband was out fishing in the lagoon. That evening, the woman arrived at my door with two fish that he’d caught, wrapped in the leaves, for me to try.

Best memory from your travels for television?

I met a woman in Umbria who spent all day peeling the skin from black truffles to prepare them for a local company. She said she’d never eaten white truffles because she couldn’t afford to. But I happened to have one with me, so I cooked it for her and her cheeks went bright red - she was so happy!

Most adventurous travel experience?

In Australia, near Melbourne, where I went to see penguins along the coast. I stood on a platform above the sea, surrounded by bushes containing penguin nests, and they started coming out of the sea, one after another. It was so funny because each one had a tummy full of fish stored to feed to their babies. These little fluffy penguins were hungry and waiting for their mothers. But the mothers simply refused to give food to any babies that weren’t their own. It was unbelievable.

Most remote place you’ve been?

The Atlas Mountains in Morocco, where I visited a local man in his home. He and his wife cooked for me and it was so interesting to see how they lived in just a couple of rooms, with a bed, table, kitchen and nothing else. Incredibly simple, but they were very happy. The Atlas Mountains are fantastic and very wild, with little oases in between.

Your favourite hotel?

The Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong is very nice and has a fantastic Chinese restaurant. Everything you could possibly want is there but the luxury lies in not being confronted by it all the time. The hotel group that impressed me the most is the Aman group. I stayed at the Amankila and Amandari resorts in Bali. Amandari is in Ubud, in the mountains among the rice fields, and there I saw a scene that could have been a Van Gogh painting when I was out gathering sticks. I walked along a path through fields and reached a small waterfall, under which a mother and daughter were washing themselves. It was so wonderful it didn’t seem real.

Worst travel experience?

I once took a charter flight from Luton to Milan which should have left at 11pm but departed an hour-and-a-half late. The captain then announced: “Thank you for taking this flight from Luton to Rome.” The plane apparently had to go to Rome and then back to Milan, because there was a group of 25 disabled people on board who were travelling to Rome. Once we arrived there was an airport strike and nobody would help the disabled people get off the plane. Cars were waiting for them on the tarmac, so the captain, a few others and myself carried them on our shoulders to the cars. It was shameful.

Any travel advice?

Always eat when you can. You never know when you will get your next meal, or how good it will be. Whenever I travel, I always eat at a seafood counter at the airport, just to be safe.

Where next?

South America. I’ve never been before and I’d like to see all of it. I will, someday.

Antonio Carluccio’s new book, Pasta, published by Quadrille (£20), is out now.